The Mark of Athena
by Dappa Livvi
Summary: What will happen next to our brave Heroes of Olympus?
1. Chapter 1

**Annabeth  
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Annabeth Chase dreamt that she was burning. Red and white fire raged around her as she struggled to free herself from an endless wooden pole. Ripples of dirt played with her toes as a drop of sweat fell from her forehead. Blood pools sprayed over the dusty cliff, capturing the dead corpses with swords pierced through their hearts.  
><em>The one who knows shall guide them... <em>a deep cracking voice echoed in her mind. Annabeth struggled some more. _Daughter of wisdom... be prepared._

Annabeth woke up, gasping as her hand clutched her bead necklace. She groaned sleepily and fell back into the soft pillows of her bed. It was just a nightmare. Turning her head to the side, she saw the picture of Percy that she'd brought with her. Turning over to her side, she stared at her boyfriends young face, smiling down at her. She smiled back. Just then, she war boat jerked irritatingly and Annabeth was thrown to the wall and a crack developed in her ears. She looked down to the shards of glass.  
>Carefully, she picked up the picture of Percy and swept the broken glass off of it.<br>"I'm coming, seaweed brain," she whispered to him, and sent a kiss sailing. She folded the picture and slipped it under her pillow.  
>She sighed looking down at the glass on the floor. Just a few more hours to tolerate before she saw him again...<br>She picked it up and threw that glass out. She had a few moments to herself, though. It was the perfect time to get Percy out of her mind. The dream. The dream was weird enough. She had a sense that whomever that voice belonged to meant her harm.  
>It would be best to discuss it with Jason, Piper, and Leo. They would know what to do. Her mind was just so blank at the moment. It was absurd. Daughter of Athena, and you can't get the simple thought out of your mind.<br>_Rome. Greece. Percy. Dream. Camp. Percy. Dream. Percy.  
><em>Annabeth banged her fist on the door, slamming it shut. It wasn't normal.  
>Then she heard voices coming from the meeting hall.<br>"Should we tell Annabeth?" she heard a girls voice, obviously Piper.  
>"She's sleeping. Let her rest. We need strength to make an impression on the Romans," Jason's voice advised.<br>"Speaking of impressions," Leo said. "It's not good to be an early guest."  
>Annabeth pressed her ear to the door.<br>"What do you mean?" Piper asked.  
>"We're going to be early," Leo said. "By this pace, we'll be there in a dozen minutes."<br>Annabeth stormed in. "You should tell me these things," she said. Annabeth walked straight to the table and pulled out a map. "When you say a dozen minutes, it means that we're already in sight. You need to get up and steer this ship to a halt."  
>For a moment, everybody was confused. Even Annabeth. She could see the priceless expressions on their faces. Most of them read, <em>she was eaves dropping?<em>, but that didn't matter.  
>Slowly, the confusion of a sentence turned into the clarity of an order. Leo and Piper scrambled upstairs, but Jason simply walked to Annabeth's side. He turned towards her.<br>"Are you sure you're ready?" Jason asked her.  
>"Yes," Annabeth said, simply, not daring to turn towards Jason. She nodded and walked ahead to the deck. With only minutes to spare, Annabeth realized that this wasn't the best time to talk about a simple dream that just appeared. It could just mean nothing.<br>But she knew it didn't.  
>Either way, she needed to make sure that new bonds were sewn between the rips and misunderstandings of the Romans and Greeks. But, she did hope it would all be fine, or the whole world would be in danger.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Percy**

Percy Jackson stood between Hazel and Franks as the giant Greek warship landed on the bank of the river. A strong pull of energy pulled him to the ship, as if he were floating on air. Percy glanced at Reyna and then Octavian.  
>Reyna seemed fine and stood stiffly, like her usual self. It was hard to see a difference at all. <em>I wonder if she would react the same way to Jason as I would do for Annabeth,<em> Percy thought. He shook that thought out and simply looked to the floor. Annabeth. He longed for her so much. But now, when he was on the verge of seeing her for the first time in almost a year, he felt like a complete fool and wanted to huddle up in a small shell and hide.  
>On the other side, there was Octavian. He held a fat teddy bear in one hand, while his other hand on his knife. Percy could tell that he wanted to rip open thousands of teddy bears until he found a misplaced stuffing and claimed that it was right to attack the Greeks.<br>But he'd sworn on his life.  
>He hoped that his old friends would take him and the Romans well. Otherwise he knew what would be in stock for him and his soul.<br>"Are you okay?" Hazel asked Percy in a worried tone.  
>"I'm fine," Percy answered.<br>"Man," Frank nudged in. "Are you sure? You look real pale."  
>"Yeah, I told you, I'm fine." Percy nodded.<br>There was a murmur in the crowd as the plank moved down revealing four kids, two girls and two boys.  
>Percy nearly fell to his knees, but gladly, Hazel and Frank kept him up.<br>"A-A-Anna-Annabeth," Percy managed to stutter. He felt butterflies bump into each other in his stomach.  
>"Woah," Hazel said. "I may not know too much about love," Hazel looked at Frank, then back again. "But I do know that you can give a girl the creeps, staring at her."<br>Percy took a deep breath, and stood upright. "True," was all that Percy said in response.  
>He looked forward, slightly smiling, remembering all of the times that he and Annabeth had together. All the good and the bad.<br>He heard how Hazel and Frank backed off, probably somewhere upfront so that they could see the faces clearer, but Percy just stood there.  
>Suddenly, he wished that he'd changed from his toga and into his purple camp shirt and jeans.<br>He shook his head, sadly, he was out of time and didn't want to miss any of the moments of reunion. It wasn't only because he didn't want to lose any precious moments with Annabeth, but necause if Octavian got any funny ideas...  
>Either way, Percy couldn't help but feel excited and overloaded. He could see Jason, Jason Grace, stand hand in hand with a girl with brown choppy hair. Behind them, the boy who had sent the video and the warning.<br>"_Seaweed brain!_" Percy heard a girl's shriek. Annabeth's shriek. Just ahead, he saw Annabeth running towards him and her arms her outspread.  
>"Wise girl..." he laughed, picking up Annabeth and twirling her around the air. When he put her down she slapped him.<br>"I missed you too," Percy said sarcastically, wincing with pain. Annabeth frowned in confusion because of why her hand actually touched his flesh and not bounced off.  
>"How did you-" before she could finish, she lost herself in his kiss. His embrace.<br>"How about we get settled with this quest before we get to these... reunions," Reyna said, not looking at the two of them. Percy began to think that she didn't mean his and Annabeth's reunion, but reunions in general. If this theory was correct, that meant she was looking at Jason and the girl.  
>Reyna soon overcame her sourness.<br>She raised her hand. "Greeks, Percy, we must meet."  
>For a moment, the murmurs turned silent. Then, everybody looked silent.<br>"I will go, too," Percy heard Octavian's voice out of the blue. "You need me and my sights."  
>"No need-" Percy and Jason said at the same time. They looked at each other. But finally, they came to a silent agreement that Percy would talk. "We have no need. We do not need to know whether to go on this trip, or a prophecy to go with it. We need routes. Plans. You may go to your duties."<br>Octavian growled, but said nothing. But something was wrong. Something in his eyes was just not right. They were usually blue, but they'd suddenly changed colour. Brown. His eyes were now brown. Colour of the Earth.


	3. Chapter 3

**Reyna**

Reyna, Jason, Percy and the Greeks settled into the chairs. They gathered around, very quietly.  
>Reyna saw Jason biting his lip, making no direct eye contact with her. He slouched in his chair and smiled towards the girl with chopped hair, whose name was Piper.<br>"Welcome," Reyna grunted, looking at Percy. "Welcome Greeks."  
>"You have sailed far and wide," Percy continued. "To end up on Roman lands. We clearly foresaw you coming, but we cannot hold back further. We must go to Rome, and close the doors of death. We must plan, for planning will be one of the last things that will protect us."<br>"A plan is my specialty," Reyna saw Annabeth pipe in. She smiled, taking out a map from her bag and spreading it out over the table. She took out a piece of charcoal and began to scribble.  
>"We have four destinations," Annabeth said. "We've been to camp Half-Blood already, so that's crossed off. We're here in the Roman camp. Legion Camp. So that's still in business. After that, we need to go to Rome, then Greece. Is that everything?"<br>By the time she lifted her head, she's finished the map, the time how it would take to get there and a few possible routes.  
>Reyna wasn't looking at Annabeth, or the map. Percy was doing that for her. Remarkably, Annabeth didn't get sick of him yet. She wasn't looking at them, though. She was looking at a wall.<br>Truth be told, she admired Jason's leadership and power. But she'd never loved anybody. She was glad that he'd finally found a girl and wasn't trailing her anymore. But... she was the one who didn't need to be loved. The one who didn't love. But... it just wasn't Jason who triggered this sudden jealousy. It wasn't Piper. This was the unknown area of her emotions that was never really called upon. She had no idea...  
>"Reyna? Reyna!" she finally heard Annabeth call. "Did you get all that?"<br>Reyna nodded and stepped back. "The meeting is over. We all meet right before dusk to set sail. We'll sail through the night. Now, why don't we give a quick tour to you... Greeks."  
>Everybody nodded in agreement.<br>"Piper, I'll show you around." Reyna said. "Hazel, you show Annabeth around. Frank, you show Leo around. Percy, Jason, see to it that you get your parts together. "  
>Piper scrambled up beside Reyna and left alongside her.<br>Reyna showed Annabeth around the camp. She quickened up her pace until she reached the hillside, looking over the camp.  
>"Wow," Piper said. "This is beautiful!"<br>Reyna nodded. "I need to talk to you-"  
>"If it's about Jason, you can forget it!" Piper almost cried. Reyna hushed her down.<br>"I don't have any soft feelings towards Jason, Piper. I can assure you that."  
>Piper suddenly calmed. "Yes?"<br>"I have some emotions I can't sort out, and I wanted your help with them."  
>Reyna lowered her head and voice as Frank and Leo walked past, chatting like two old friends.<br>"I- I- I think I'm in love with Percy."  
>All of a sudden, Annabeth jump out of the bushes with streams running down her eyes. Hazel was trying to hold her back, murmuring 'it wasn't a good idea to listen in..."<br>"I thought that you were trying to help me- not that witch!" she called to Piper. Then, she looked at Reyna and with a harsh whisper, said. "And you'll never get him!"  
>Turning, Annabeth ran.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Percy**

Percy woke up in early morning- something he never did. Finally realizing that he couldn't sleep anymore, he got up, dressed himself, and left his cabin.  
>Outside, Jason was hauling large barrels and bags onto the Argo II.<br>"Hey!" Percy called, waving his hand high above his head. Jason turned.  
>"Hey, Percy. Mind helping?" Jason replied, still heaving the items onto the boat.<br>"Sure," he said. "Coming."  
>He ran up to the boat and began loading.<br>"Looks like we're leaving now." Jason said, inwardly sighing.  
>"Sucks, doesn't it? You just got home and you need to leave again."<br>"Yeah. It just feels like my life is slipping through my fingers."  
>"No, come on. This isn't the first time that you've felt like this."<br>"How do you know?"  
>"Did I mention that we're a whole lot alike?"<br>Jason laughed, his shoulders relaxing just by the slightest bit.  
>"We'll leave in two hours," Jason said, after the 'we're a lot alike' conversation began dying.<br>"Good. I've got my stuff packed and ready."  
>"Where?"<br>Percy took out his pen and stepped onto the boat's walkway.  
>"Me, myself, and I- plus a killer sword."<br>"Literally."  
>They both cracked a smile.<br>"Should we call everybody? The sea looks inviting..."  
>"But there's one thing that needs to be sorted out between the two of us," Jason said. "And that's how we're going to get there."<br>Percy's eye's bored right through Jason.  
>"That's right," he recalled. "Argo can fly too."<br>"We could row out into the open sea-"  
>"Not row. Ride."<br>"Ok, then. The boat will sail us through open sea, but when we go near risky places, we need to fly."  
>"Sounds... good."<br>"Ok. You call Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel. I'll call the rest."  
>"Yeah."<br>And then they were off, running to find people in places. Percy went first to forage Frank and Hazel, who went to the ship together. He saved Annabeth for last.  
>he knocked on her door.<br>"Come in," she called.

Percy walked in casually, with his hands in his pockets. Annabeth jumped off her bed and ran towards Percy, fully dressed already.  
>"I was waiting for you."<br>Percy frowned. "You're not usually one to wait."  
>"No, no." Annabeth rushed. "I'm still the same. I still love you."<br>He chuckled, grabbing hold of her hand. "Wise girl, I love you too. Time to go."  
>She smiled, then gave him a small kiss on the lips. Her slid over, hugging his waist.<br>"Let's."  
>Percy pursed his lips. Something was definitely up.<br>Just as they walked onto the ship, Annabeth turned her head ,cocked her eyebrow up, and smiled, returning to Percy.


End file.
